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1

What is the legal basis for the BBC?

A Royal Charter

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2

How are newspapers and magazines regulated?

By bodies they subscribe to on a voluntary basis, or their own internal mechanisms.

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3

In what ways can the media support democracy?

• Subjecting the actions of public office holders to scrutiny.
• Providing the public with information on which they can make decisions about political matters.
• Creating a space in which political debates can take place; and allowing political parties and other groups to make their case.
• Creating the opportunity for the public to communicate with politicians and with each-other; and enabling them to organise politically.

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4

On what basis might the public form political opinions and make decisions about which way to vote?

• The view they hold on a particular issue, when parties disagree over it.
• How well placed they think a particular party is to deliver on a particular objective, if there is general agreement about it.
• Their view of the leadership of parties.
• Background and social characteristics may play an important part in determining the way they are likely to vote.

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5

Why might the media need regulating, and what problems are there with doing so?

The media generally are important to the working of democracy, enabling various forms of political communication. Different media have different agendas, that may dispose them towards specific outcomes rather than simply informing the public. Some media can have objectives that could serve to tilt political contests in one direction or another. Campaigns can make misleading claims, or make inappropriate use of personal data.

Some entities using the media for political communication might be hostile to the democratic system altogether, and seek to disrupt it through deliberate disinformation. The Internet seems to have created opportunities in this regard.

There are practical difficulties in achieving the regulation of communication. Policing the Internet is particularly difficult. Even though there are neutrality rules in place for broadcasters, whether they work, and the results they produce, are subjects of dispute.

Though it would in theory be possible to introduce tighter limitations on all media, to do so would be to undermine the important democratic principle on which they rest, that of freedom of expression. Close control of the Internet, for instance, is associated with authoritarian societies such as China, not more democratic systems.

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6

How important is public opinion in UK politics?

Public opinion has a special place in a democracy. Freedom of expression means that it is possible for different views to be presented and discussed, and for public authorities to be criticised.

Politicians have a particular interest in public opinion because their ultimate success or failure depends on how people decide to vote in elections. They and the sections of the media devote substantial time and resources to discerning what members of the public think, including through the commissioning of opinion research.

Important decisions can be made on a basis of what it is believed the views of the public are on given matters: for instance, a party may choose a leader who seems the most able to succeed at a General Election. Sections of the public may make their views felt through such means as petitioning.

Not all views have equal weight attached to them. Parties, for instance, are more likely to respond to particular opinions if they judge it to be in their electoral interest to do so. Some groups are more effective at making their views known and taken into account than others.

Responses to public opinion may be more cosmetic than real; politicians may seek to create the impression that they are responding to issues, rather than actually doing go in a more substantial way.